


Creatures of the World

by Marsalias



Series: Dannymay 2019 [7]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, crossposted on ffn, various ghosts have weird reactions to Danny, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marsalias/pseuds/Marsalias
Summary: Many strange and wondrous creatures made their homes in the Infinite Realms. Any of them might have been called ghosts, but that was a broad and sweeping term, much like 'life,' or 'matter.' Much like the living, the denizens of the Realms divided themselves into groups of race and tribe, species and breed, origin and creed. They ranged from the microscopic, to the massive, from the blindingly intelligent, to the completely mindless. The Realms might seem sparsely populated, but they teemed.
Series: Dannymay 2019 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757458
Comments: 13
Kudos: 310
Collections: Love dan





	Creatures of the World

Many strange and wondrous creatures made their homes in the Infinite Realms. Any of them might have been called ghosts, but that was a broad and sweeping term, much like 'life,' or 'matter.' Much like the living, the denizens of the Realms divided themselves into groups of race and tribe, species and breed, origin and creed. They ranged from the microscopic, to the massive, from the blindingly intelligent, to the completely mindless. The Realms might seem sparsely populated, but they _teemed._

There were the behemoths, great beasts with four arms and red fur. They were the guardians of artifacts and precious things, their shared Obsession driving them to seek out such things and protect them, sometimes even hoard them. They acted more like the human conception of dragons than anything else.

Unicorns existed in the Realms as well, but they were not the soft, placid things of human myth. They were fierce, fiery, vicious, and used their horns to maximum effect, impaling and rending their victims before feasting on their flesh. Only virgins, or the truly pure of heart, could even hope to calm them, and their otherwise indiscriminate attacks caused most of their race to be sealed inside Pandora's Box as one of the Ghost Zone's evils.

Yetis, frost giants, had a Realm to themselves: The Far Frozen, one of the Lands of Ice. They were huge, bear like, with white fur, claws, sharp teeth, horns, and yellow eyes, dangerous in appearance and fact. Yet, their tribe was home to one of the longest-lived civilizations of the Realms, and they were a people of great honor, skilled artisans, and advanced medicine. They took the ancient duties of their tribe seriously, and kept their secrets well.

But there was an even stranger creature who frequented the Infinite Realms

.

A bare few days was not enough time for anyone to master ice, reflected Frostbite. That the Great One had managed even a semblance of doing so was impressive. Then, to use that incomplete skill to defeat Undergrowth, Master of Nature, one of the seven Ancients, was more impressive still. Not, perhaps, so much so as defeating Pariah Dark, the Ghost King- No. The _former_ Ghost King, but few things were.

It was, therefore, not surprising to Frostbite when the Great One returned a few days later (once again literally falling out of the sky), shivering with suppressed cold.

Every time Frostbite saw the Great One, he was struck by how very small and young he was. The Great One was one of the Dead, not the Deathless, the born ghosts, and Frostbite knew that humans matured, aged, much faster than his people, but the Great One had less than two decades to his name. The youngest cub in the Far Frozen had six, and was twice as large. Frostbite could hold the Great One in one hand. Snowdrift took at least an arm.

"S-sorry to _drop_ in on y-you, Fr-Frostbite," the Great One said, stuttering as he shivered. "But my powers kinda, heh, f- _froze_ me out."

From the way he emphasized certain words, Frostbite guessed there was a joke in there, possibly even several of them. The Great One's sense of humor was somewhat... inscrutable, however. Frostbite suspected that came from cultural differences. The Great One had been raised human, after all.

The Great One made a weak attempt to fly out of the snow, but settled down on top of it, drooping, skin tinted blue. "I th-think I n-need help. S-sorry ab-about this."

"It is quite alright, Great One!" said Frostbite, trying to mask his worry. The Great One was strong and so were his ice powers. Normally, for any of their other cubs, this would be a good thing, but the great one was half-human, and his body had not yet adapted to the cold it could produce and contain.

He scooped the child up, and lifted off the ground, flying back towards the village. The Great one sighed, and burrowed into Frostbite's fur.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

.

The unicorn raised its head from the stream. Water dripped from its barred fangs. It felt something. Something interesting. A forked tongue flicked from between its lips, and its fiery mane flared blue. It kicked off the ground, and pranced upwards, hooves striking sparks from the air. Ghosts had a habit of making their own rules of physics.

It paused, deceptively dainty, on a tiny island. It looked from side to side, nostrils flaring and tongue flicking, trying to scent the air. The thing it was looking for was nearby. It could tell.

Finally, it determined a direction, and it sprang off. Sounds of battle reached its ears. It was close, now. A meal was at hand. A meal, and perhaps something else.

It bounced merrily, murderously, over a series of larger islands, and through a bank of ectoplasmic mist. It paused a moment, to take in the battle. There were two ghosts. One was large, lizard-like, with light green scales, angry red eyes, and eight thin legs. The other was quite small. Humanoid. Black and white and green. Fast and vicious. It was this second one that had that _something_ the unicorn was attracted to.

The unicorn lowered its head, and charged. At the lizard, of course. Its horn went right through the lizards core, and it was destroyed instantly. The unicorn let the lizard's already disintegrating body slide off the horn, and turned to face the other ghost. It looked rather taken aback by the whole situation, radiating uncertainty.

The unicorn sniffed the air. The little ghost was pure, yes, innocent, yet, but there was something... Off. The unicorn shook its head, and turned its attention to the body of the lizard tearing off strips of ectoplasmic flesh.

"Okay then," said the little ghost. "I'm just gonna... go."

.

It was rare for a behemoth to lose its horde, but that was exactly what had happened to this one. She was depressed. Horribly so. She had protected the Skeleton Key for hundreds of years, since shortly after Pariah was locked away. The loss... it was unbearable.

She lay limp, unmoving, on a lump of floating rock, too miserable to move, even to return to her lair. If she didn't find something else to protect soon, something precious, something valuable, at least as valuable as the Key had been, she would waste away as her Obsession starved. But there were few things in the Realms that could equal that.

In essence, the behemoth was waiting to die.

A loud, high, _young_ shriek pierced the silence of the Realms. The behemoth lifted her head, curiosity temporarily overcoming apathy. There was pain in that scream.

And then- "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. You never learn, do you?"

The behemoth's hackles went up. That voice- _That voice._ It belonged to the one who had taken the Key from her! That evil, evil man! She was ending, but she would take her pound of flesh before she did.

She flew up, re-energized, at least for the moment, and barreled towards the voice at high speed. The man came into view and she roared, enraged. The two battling ghosts looked up to her, but she was only interested in the larger of the two. She was only interested in _him._

"Oh, butter biscuits!"

She swallowed him whole. Oh, to be sure, he would be able to get out eventually. He had gotten out last time, and she was weaker now, but it would take days, maybe even weeks. It had taken months last time.

There was a soft whimper, and the behemoth turned. The smaller ghost was lying on a nearby island, nursing injuries, serious ones. Fear was written over his face. As well it might be, he had just seen her eat someone!

The behemoth inched closer, entranced by some quality the little ghost had. He tried to run, fly off, but fell back to the ground, curling around his midsection. She took the opportunity to come closer still, and nudged him with one of her hands.

"Please don't eat me," he whispered. "Please don't eat me, I'm not tasty, please don't eat me."

She licked him, tasting one of the ectoplasm stains. He whimpered. He really was hurt, wasn't he? It was too bad she couldn't do anything but clean his wounds, and he was making that difficult. Finally, somewhat satisfied, the behemoth curled herself around the child, wrapping her long tail securely around him, and hummed.

Maybe she had found something precious after all.

.

Danny had to admit, he was often confused about how ghosts reacted to him. The people of the Far Frozen practically worshiped him. Unicorns ignored him. And now, this. This wasn't so bad, though. He actually felt sort of... protected. Like when he was with Clockwork, or Frostbite.

He sighed, and started to hum back.


End file.
